How did Christ change your life when you were introduced to Christianity?

I was led to Christ in Arcata, California while en route to Alaska. I stopped my van in front of the Schaeffer Humboldt State University library and asked three guys sitting on the steps what time it was. One of them fastened his eyes on mine, and with a pointed finger barked back, “Brother, it’s time for you to get saved!” After several hours of Q & A, they took me out to their home – a Christian commune – where I spent several months doing little else but reading the Bible and sharing life with a couple hundred “Jesus freaks.” I recall how taken I was, not with formal theology, but with the way all these people related to God, each other, and the land. It was their life together that validated the truthfulness of their witness to me. In this context, a sense of God’s reality, unconditional love for me, and vision for remaking the world overwhelmed me.

Where have you traveled and lived?

I am a near-native Angeleno (transplanted from Chicago at age two) and remember first taking to the road when I was 16 (before the ink on my newly minted driver’s license could dry). I toured southwest Native Americans communities in search of turquoise, wisdom, and magic mushrooms. At 19, I responded to the “back to nature” call by moving to the island of Kauai where a variety of fringe characters had established a kind of “drop-out, tune-in” community of tree-house dwellers. My spiritual searching continued back on the mainland (at Humboldt State), but eventually led me to Switzerland where I spent several months alternating between two communities – one established by Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer (L’Abri), and the other by the “intellectual’s guru,” J. Krishnamurti. Following college – and conversion to Christ – I joined an evangelistic ministry and led teams of men for five years to every major city of the U.S., as well as to Mexico, Belize, Canada, and Australia. Then I married Leslie. We joined in the ministry of John and Vera Mae Perkins (Harambee) in northwest Pasadena before moving to India for two years of service among the Muslims of Hyderabad. I did my doctoral research in Karachi, Pakistan and took a family sabbatical in Costa Rica several years ago. Apart from those “residential” periods, I’ve traveled for shorter periods of time to most of the countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. But “home” has been Monrovia, California since coming to APU 11 years ago.

What advice do you have for students studying abroad? What questions should they ask about the new culture?

Begin here. The world has come to the U.S., especially in major urban centers. These offer model milieus for helping culturally innocent collegians to expand their base of life experience, to recognize and renounce cultural pride, and to learn how to form reciprocal friendships with those radically different from themselves. Otherwise, it is likely that students rushing abroad will find them selves confusing middle-class values, ideals, and standards with Kingdom truth, and unconsciously exporting their views about the “right” and the “proper” to the ends of the earth. Once you do travel into a community abroad, try to live with a local family and affiliate with an indigenous organization. Then follow the kinds of questions that will lead you to the “heart” of the culture: What are the aspirations and social ideals of this people? What are their most important traditions? What do the people want most in life? Why? In what ways do community members answer the “ultimate questions” of life? Which individuals, associations, and institutions exert the most influence (positively or negatively) in the community? In what ways is God already active in this place? What does God seem to be doing? What good, created things are religiously pursued in the hope of ultimate fulfillment – i.e., what are the idols?

After all of your life experience, how is your concept of the Kingdom of God different than it was when you first became a Christian?

During the early years, I viewed God as exclusively concerned with the individual and spiritual aspects of faith, rather than seeing Christ’s lordship extending over the whole of creation – from individuals and families, to community institutions and local ecosystems. Souls, society, and seals – they’re all interdependent parts of the Kingdom that fulfills God’s purpose in the whole of creation.

Who is the most interesting person you have met?

Brother Bakht Singh of India. Singh was one of India’s most dynamic Bible teachers and church planters, responsible for establishing more than 10,000 thoroughly contextualized local assemblies throughout the Subcontinent. He spent much of the day prayerfully reading the Bible on his knees, and was known as one who never sought recognition, status, or wealth. We met in his plainly furnished, two-room flat on the premises of the “mother” church (“Hebron”) in Hyderabad. I was 26, and we had just finished a four hour meeting of prayer, praise, communion, and teaching. We shared a meal together and talked about many things. But what I especially recall was his response to queries that revealed my anxiety over not being married yet. “Brother Richard,” he said in a sincere, patient tone. “There’s one thing worse than not being married. It’s marrying the wrong person.”

How has your faith in Christ been impacted by learning about other cultures and religions?

It has caused me to distinguish the absolute and unchanging person of Jesus Christ from the Truth-preserving, yet socially constructed, religious system (Christianity) that represents Him. Distinguishing between the two has freed me to mine the rich multiplicity of ethical, cultural, and spiritual treasures which God has lavished upon humankind (see John 16:12-15 and Revelation 21:24). Just as there was knowledge of the true God outside of the Hebrew tradition (consider Melchizedek, Noah, Job, Ruth), there are virtues and values within diverse cultural identities, national temperaments, and religious traditions that can serve to deepen and enrich Christian faith. Each has a redemptive purpose in that they bear God-created gifts. From different Buddhist friends, for example, I’ve been sensitized to honoring God’s creation by not abusing it. Their practice of “mindfulness,” whereby we recognize that everything is linked to the presence of God in every moment, has challenged me to slow down and stay more in the present. The more nonviolent and meditative character of Buddhist practice has served as a necessary corrective to the more militaristic and action-oriented impulses of Western evangelicalism. Here it is that I, as a follower of Jesus, have gained a fuller comprehension of the Kingdom of God through the insights, distinctive experiences, and community life offered through another culture and religion.

What is your favorite food?

That’s an easy one: natural peanut butter and banana on whole grain bread. Thank God for Trader Joe’s.